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Friday, 30 May 2008

I am massively supporting Susan's (of Food Blogga) blogging event called "Beautiful Bones" to highlight osteoporosis. This is one event that I really feel close to my heart. I do feel strongly mainly because my mother's side of the family have been blighted by osteoporosis and other bone diseases. And if me and my siblings are not careful we would be victims as well later on.

My dear old grandma, Lola Ebia, is in her 95th year. Her spine is bent forward making it difficult for her to move around. Worse off was her late older sister, Lola Ine, who was not only bent almost 90 degrees from the waist up but whose spine was shaped like a big letter S on her back. It did not seem give her that much health problems (or maybe I just didn't hear much about it) but it did present a great difficulty for her physically moving about. Me and my cousins were joking then at what shape her coffin would be when she died.

It did not end in my grandma's generation. My mother and her siblings are now beginning to feel various forms of bone diseases. And it's not confined to the women even our uncle who is very fit and follows a healthy lifestyle succumbed to some problems with his hipbone and had to be operated on when he was only 65. So me and my cousins better beware and heed the signs to take better care of ourselves or we will suffer in later years.

As what Susan mentioned in her blog, there are lots of food sources of calcium ranging from the usual dairy products to vegetables to nuts and lots of others. Bear in mind to temper the consumption of these with fibre since too much fibre restricts the absorbtion of calcium by the body. To strike a balance between consumption of calcium and fibre-rich food would be the optimum goal. As usual moderation is the key.

I have chosen to cook this dish rather than the usual dairy product sources since the soya bean in the bean curd and the green bokchoy are rich in calcium and would do well in balancing our intake of healthier food. Sorry for the limp overcooked bokchoy. Distractions while cooking can be hazardous to the final cooked products.

Thursday, 29 May 2008

I've always wanted to join in the fun of the Daring Bakers. It took me several months to muster up enough courage to send an email to the organizers and start the excitement of waiting for the next challenge's announcement. And guess what my first challenge was - opera cake! My most dreaded and nervousness-inducing pastry creation. I always tried to avoid making this, thinking it was too tedious, too difficult, or just too time and resource demanding. As it turned out, if you do parts of it ahead of time it won't be too daunting a task.

How did I fare? Not bad, though I would not qualify this as a resounding success. Despite my results I learned a lot from doing this and if ever I am brave (or nagged) enough to do this again I have every confidence I can do it well. Thanks very much to the organisers of this month's theme for their detailed instructions and their patience in answering our countless questions and shoring up our flagging confidence. Our organisers decided that the theme should not be the usual chocolate opera cake but with white chocolate and whatever light flavouring and spring-themed decoration you desire.

I didn't find much problems in the making of the joconde (cake) and syrup. They were straightforward and were easy peasy to make. I made them at least 2 days before with the syrup flavoured by lemon juice since I've decided to do a citrus flavoured opera cake.

The buttercream was another matter altogether. Me and my 7-year-old daughter were happily beating the eggs with the hot syrup very slowly dripped into it. It came out light, very fluffy and wonderfully marshmallow-like flavoured. Problem came when we beat in the softened butter. I thought it was softened enough but as I put in the first lot I actually saw it go deflate - pfffft! So the first lesson was make sure the butter is not just soft but room temperature - as in almost at melting point. The buttercream still came together but it was not as fluffy as I expected. And if I were to do this again I would make 1 1/2 of the buttercream to make sure there's enough for it to spread around.

Next was the disappointing white chocolate. I had two lots to do, one for the mousse another for the glaze. Needless to say the Mernier white choc I bought refused to completely melt! And all along I thought a more expensive one would give me an easier to handle ingredient. How wrong I was. I should have stuck to the cheap supermarket-brand baking white choc. Anyways, after my futile attempt to melt it in the double boiler I transferred it in a saucepan where it almost burned. Finally, it melted, removed from the heat and cooled it a bit. But by the time I have beaten the double cream to soft peaks the melted white choc was becoming grainy! So off it went back on the cooker with me stirring like a woman possessed. I cooled it again though this time watching it like a hawk and stirring it from time to time. When it was about room temperature I was finally able to successfully fold it into the whipped cream. The original recipe said to use 7 oz or 200 gm of white choc. I thought it was a bit much too sweet so I only used half required.

The original glaze for me is too sweet as well plus it did not spread too well. Therefore the recipe below is adjusted to double the cream and reduce the white choc a little.

The assembly was the easiest part for me. Although I could have put more syrup in the joconde to make the lemon flavour more prominent.

As I said before, I learned a lot from this exercise and have marked here all my learning points to avoid any future disasters.

White Opera Cake

Syrup

1/2 cup water
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp lemon juice

Put all ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.

Simmer until all the sugar is dissolved.

Remove from heat and set aside.

(Note: This can be done up to 1 week in advance covered in the fridge.)

In another bowl, beat eggs and icing sugar and ground almond until light and voluminous (about 3 minutes).

Add flour and mix just enough to combine. Do not overmix.

Gently fold the meringue into the almond mixture. Fold in the melted butter.

Divide the batter between the two pans, spread evenly and bake for 6 to 9 minutes or until lightly brown and springy to the touch.

Remove from oven. Run a knife along the edges to loosen the cake. Cover each with parchment paper, turn it over, unmold the cake and carefully remove the parchment paper lining. Let it cool to room temperature.

(Note: This can be made 1 day in advance and kept wrapped in room temperature.)

Combine sugar and water in a saucepan and cook over low-medium heat until the sugar dissolves.

Continue to cook without stirring until the temperature reaches 225F on a jam or deep-fry thermometer.

While the syrup is heating, beat the egg and egg yolk at high speed until pale and foamy.

Once the syrup reaches the required temperature, remove it from the heat, reduce the mixer speed to low and begin to very slowly pouring the syrup down the side of the bowl being very careful not to splatter the syrup onto the path of the whisk.
Some of the syrup might spin onto the sides of the bowl but don’t worry about this and don’t try to mix it in the mixture as it will harden.

Raise the speed to medium and continue beating until the eggs are thick and satiny and is cool to the touch (about 5 minutes).

While the egg mixture is beating, place the softened butter in a bowl and mash it with a spatula until you have a soft creamy mass.

With the mixer on medium speed, add the softened butter in two-tablespoon chunks. When all the butter has been added, mix in the 1 Tbsp orange extract and raise the mixer speed to high and beat until buttercream is thick and shiny.

Chill the buttercream in the fridge, stirring often until it’s set enough to spread on the cake.

(Note: This can be done in advance packed in an airtight container – 1 month frozen and 4 days refrigerated. To use simply bring buttercream to room temperature and then beat briefly to restore its consistency.)